841
841 was an Antweight robot created in 2018, and the first robot to be officially owned or operated by 404 Robotics. 'Etymology' The number represented by the robot's name is the same number used by IUOE Local 841, a worker's union located in Wabash Valley. The number was also used by Kollier's grandpa decades prior as his official demolition derby car number. The number was originally used as a placeholder due to the fact that Kollier could not come up with a better name that hadn't already been taken, though he eventually settled on the name instead. 'Design' 'Version 1 (2017)' The earliest versions of the robot were drafted in 2017, with Kollier having minimal CAD skills and even less knowledge of how to build a combat robot. The design was also planned to be a Beetleweight, and the CAD was worked on by David Rush. After months of work, the design would wind up getting scrapped due to a lack of funding on Kollier's end. 'Version 2 (2018)' After the original design was scrapped, Kollier would proceed to create a CAD of a second version, more a long the lines of Minotaur. David Rush made contact with Kollier again, and would in turn give him a Saifu Kit he had won in an event several years back, remarking that both designs were essentially the same. This version would be powered by a Thunderpower RAMPAGE 11.1v 325mAh battery. This provided more than enough power for 841's other parts, such as the two Kitbots 500rpm motors that provided drive on two Fingertech 2" x .5" tires. The drivetrain was powered by a modified Vex 29, and a SimonK 12a ESC would be used to power the weapon up front. The garolite panels on the top and bottom were replaced with hand-cut carbon fiber panels from David Rush in order to shave a few grams. Kollier had originally planned on painting the panels, but decided it wasn't worth the hassle and wouldn't look as good. 'Version 3 (2019)' During the time it took to repair the robot, Kollier got in touch with Team Mugga Junk, who provided 841 with titanium horns to better cover the front of the robot. The weapon ESC was replaced with the Kitbots 10a Reversible ESC as well, and the rest of the robot remained the same. 'CIRC Bot Brawl 2017' 841 was registered to compete, but due to the robot never being finished it was withdrawn the night before. 'CIRC Bot Brawl 2018' This marked the first official appearance of 841. The robot wound up being 15.9oz (450.7574g) upon inspection, meaning no weight reduction was necessary. However, the robot blow its weapon ESC the day before the competition due to the fact an error had been made during the wiriing process. David Rush and David Small would both step in and do what they could to get the robot up and running while trying to get their own robots working, replacing the broken weapon ESC and calibrating the robot. For reasons never really figured out, the weapon ESC used had issues when being spun up, where the moment Kollier would hit the throttle too quickly, the weapon would stop fuctioning all together. 'Round 1: vs Happy Gnome' 841 was originally slated to face a 2wd wedge named Charlie, but due to several changes to the tournament board it would be changed to Happy Gnome, a robot built by TML Productions of Terre Haute, Indiana. The robot was an angled sawblade and, as the name implies, designed after a garden gnome. Prior to this matchup, 841 had troubles getting the drivetrain to behave as intended, resulting in the drivetrain being next to inoperable. However, there was no time to get it fixed, and Kollier had to get the robot loaded into the arena. 841 started the match by spinning in circles, managing to slide past Happy Gnome's blade and, in turn, slam into the wall and go spinning away. Happy Gnome would gather its bearings as 841 slowly crabwalked towards them. Kollier had no idea as to how the controls were handling, and after spinning around several times Happy Gnome landed a nice shot on the backside of the drum spinner. Happy Gnome would back off, assuming that 841 had no sign of controlled movement, but would proceed to go back on the offensive as the disoriented machine continued to flail about. By this point, 841 wandered towards the pit, Kollier hoping he'd be able to kite Happy Gnome into the pit and cheese a victory in the process. This plan backfired, however, as 841 wound up stuck on the edge of the pit and counted out. Looking at the damages, all of the electronics were safe and had no signs of problems. However, the armor around 841 was badly torn up and shredded apart. Kollier fixed this with Gorilla Tape. Several impacts landed very close to the LiPo, and had they cut a little bit deeper it would've most likely resulted in a fire. 'Round 2: vs Not So Free Hugs' The next opponent for 841 to face was slated to be Not So Free Hugs, a unique robot armed with two direct-drive sawblades and a clamping system, designed to swing both saws in and out simultaneously to cut into the opponent. However, the robot wound up with its blades being torn to pieces in its first match and blowing an ESC, resulting in a win for 841 by forfeit. 'Round 3: vs Tzschüeper ' Tzschüeper was 841's third opponent, and the second robot he had to actually face. Tzschüeper was made by Team Bleach Boys of Ballwin, Missouri and was an overhead spinning bar. To avoid taking additional damage, Kollier would tape a piece of foam to the back of 841 to reduce the chances of Tzschüeper's weapon binding to the frame where damages had already been done. 841 started out working fine, but seconds later the robot would begin to lose mobility in its right side. Tzschüeper would hesitate before striking, slamming into the drum and the right side of the frame in the process. The robot would strike the side before attempting to rip the drum spinner's wheels off Bombshell vs Cobalt (2016) style. A few more hits would land on the side of 841 before Tzschüeper backed away, 841 running towards the retreating robot and missing. A solid shot against the (inactive) drum would pop the bar spinner up and cause it to gyrate, driving to the foam backside and cutting right into it. 841 would run away from his adversary for a moment before taking the blade head-on with the solid drum, the top portions of the frame being smashed in the process. 841 started slowing down, getting stuck on the arena floor before getting an impact from Tzschüeper against the drum's right side, sending both robots flying. The barely mobile drum spinner received several more shots from the bar, and finally two long, painful minutes were over. As expected, Tzschüeper won by a unanimous Judge's decision. As with the fight against Happy Gnome, 841 wound recive no internal damage. However, one of the horns was bent so far inwards that it prevented the weapon from being able to spin, forcing Kollier to come in with a dremel to cut it off. 'Antweight Rumble' 841 was one of fourteen robots to compete in the rumble, and would suffer from more electronic issues throughout. However, there were several times that the weapon spun up, albeit not very quickly. 841 managed to survive the whole 5 minutes and was one of only three robots left mobile by the end of it. A horizontal bar spinner named Ignition was selected as the winner. 'CIRC Bot Brawl 2019' Kollier and 841 would return to Bot Brawl 2019, with a few slight adjustments to the robot. Testing went well and the robot was actually functioning as expected. At the weigh-in, however, the robot was registered as overweight by .5oz, meaning it qas no longer considered an Antweight robot. After scrambling to reduce weight, 841 was able to squeak by at exactly 16oz. 'Round 1: vs Chopped Sallad' 841's first opponent would be Dallas Goecker's Chopped Sallad, a vertical spinner who was 3D-printed from top to bottom coming from Seymor, Indiana. Kollier was worried about Chopped Sallad's reach, and if the weapon was up to full speed, it could easily win in an exchange of blows. Both robots met near the center of the arena, Chopped Sallad showing off its much slower movement speed in comparison to 841. Despite this, Goecker was able to keep chasing after his enemy due to the fact Kollier had never actually practiced driving the robot with the weapon on... which took some time to get adjusted to. The two would eventually meet on top of the pit, and 841 would catch the better end of the blows, tipping Chopped Sallad onto its weapon, which propelled the robot towards the other end of the arena and eventually stranding it onto its side. Instead of waiting for a tapout, Kollier attempted to kick the robot back up to continue the match. The robot's teeth would eventually grab hold of one of Chopped Sallad's wheels and toss the robot back upright, running forwards and tossing it back onto its wheels yet again. Another hit to Chopped Sallad's other wheel would flip the robot yet again, eventually ripping a hole into the back of the robot and exposing the battery. 841 would win by TKO. Looking over the dmage sustained, a small mark on 841's drum would be all that Chopped Sallad would leave on its adversary. In comparison, one of Chopped Sallad's gearboxes were torn up, with plenty of small holes chewed throughout the frame. All Kollier did between these matches was replace the battery. 'Round 2: vs Sparrow' Sparrow was a robot operated by Mario Jayes, which was a black candy_wasp kit. Due to electronic issues, however, the robot would forfeit and 841 would win by default. 'Round 3: vs Wedgie Time' Wedgie Time was a 2WD wedge built by Hunter Yankauskas of Team Already Broke from Knox, IN. For this fight, the robot was equipped with a set of forks that could catch 841's drum from both the top and bottom due to a pair of nubs on the bottoms of each set of forks. Combined with a powerful drivetrain, this was a robot Kollier really didn't want to either 1) get pitted by, or 2) have to drag into a JD. Wedgie Time ran straight towards 841, both robots missing eachother. A head-on collision between the two would flip the drum spinner upside-down, but would be flipped back over a moment later. The two would exchange sparks before 841 grabs onto Wedgie Time, throwing it backwards into the corner. Wedgie Time would get a solid garb on its enemy, shoving it to the other end of the arena before 841 managed to slide off. The two robots would continue to attempt to make contact, Kollier eventually managing to toss Wedgie Time over and then causing the robot to do three flips in the air. Another small shot flips Wedgie Time over, and eventually 841's drum gets deep into the forks, throwing both robots to opposite ends of the arena. It was around this time that the screws on the left side of 841 holding both the armor and titianium wedgelets in place would pull themselves out of the frame, but this wasn't important: what was important was the fact the two were now locked together, until another hit off the drum would pop two of the forks into the air and leave the wedge stranded. 841 would go in for one final blow, which would then throw the robot onto its back, still immobile. Wedgie Time would be counted out, leaving 841 with a second win by KO. Category:Antweights Category:Drum Spinners